Cole Aldrich realizes he’s not playing as many minutes as several of his McDonald’s All-America Game contemporaries.

Does that fact bother Kansas University’s 6-foot-11, 240-pound big man from Bloomington, Minn.?

Not in the least.

“I’d love to be playing 35 minutes, but I don’t think I’d be a better player in the long run if I went to a school that didn’t have such talented big guys or such a talented team,” Aldrich said.

“It’s a great learning experience going against ‘Shady’ (Darrell Arthur), Darnell (Jackson) and Sasha (Kaun), all those guys at practice every day. It’s been great. It’s really helped me improve a lot. It’s showing on the floor. It’s been a blast.”

Aldrich, who had six points, three rebounds and three blocks while playing 13 minutes in Monday’s 85-55 rout of Oklahoma, is content as the fourth man in KU’s four-player big man rotation.

For the year, the freshman is averaging 3.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and has 19 blocks, third most on the team. He averages 9.2 minutes per game, fewest of all players 6-10 or taller in last April’s McDonald’s game.

Entering this week’s action …

¢ Michael Beasley, 6-10, is Kansas State’s leading scorer (24.8) and rebounder (13.1) while playing 30.5 minutes per game.

¢ Kevin Love, 6-11, is UCLA’s leading scorer (16.8) and rebounder (10.2) in 28.2 minutes a game.

¢ J.J. Hickson, 6-10, leads North Carolina State in scoring (15.6) and rebounding (7.7) in 26.8 minutes a game.

¢ Kosta Koufos, 7-1 from Ohio State, is second on the Buckeyes in scoring (13.8) and is the team’s leading rebounder (6.9) in 25.5 minutes a game.

Of the 6-foot-9 players who played in the McDonald’s Game. ..

¢ Donte Greene is Syracuse’s leading scorer (18.9) and second leading rebounder (8.2) while logging 34.9 minutes.

¢ The injured Blake Griffin is Oklahoma’s leading scorer (14.5) and rebounder (8.6) in 26.8 minutes per game.

¢ Kyle Singler is Duke’s second-leading scorer (13.0) and second in rebounding (6.1) in 26.4 minutes.

¢ And Gani Lawal contributes 6.5 points and 3.7 rebounds in 15.5 minutes for Georgia Tech.

As far as the stat that matters the most to Aldrich … KU is undefeated and ranked third in the country. He currently is playing on the team with the best record of that bunch.

“I’ll go in two minutes, but I’ll give it my all in those two minutes. I’ll try to grab four rebounds and block three shots and all that in those two minutes,” Aldrich said. “I’ll do all I can with the playing time I get.”

Aldrich has shown a nice shooting touch in hitting 22 of 43 shots for 51.2 percent. He’s made 12 of 19 free throws for 63.2 percent.

He’s grabbed 58 rebounds in his 157 total minutes played, including 39 defensive boards in which he’s shown the ability to fire crisp outlet passes on the break.

“I think Cole is doing great. He’s getting better weekly, you could say daily,” KU coach Bill Self said. “He’s playing tougher to me. I’m getting more confidence in him every day.”

Aldrich, who may have played his best game versus OU, had a vicious block of Oklahoma senior center Longar Longar.

“He beat me once or twice,” Aldrich said. “On one of ’em I went for the pump fake at the free throw line. I saw in his eyes he was going to dunk it. I said, ‘No, he isn’t going to dunk it. I’m going to get it.’ Fortunately I got it.”

Self applauded Aldrich’s play against Oklahoma.

“Cole played great. He’s a good player just not had many opportunities. He bought us some good minutes,” Self said.